Third Presbyterian Sunday Morning Bible Study - January 10, 2021

Below is the Bible Study written by Jim Rudiger for his Sunday School Class which meets at Third Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia. It's based on 1 Timothy 3:1-13.

What were some of the rules you had to live by when you were in school? No chewing gum. No throwing spit balls. Be a pest to all girls. Eat all of your lunch so Polish children won’t starve to. Say “Yes Mam” and “Yes Sir” to the teachers. Never make passes at girls who wear glasses. If you broke the rules, what happened? Stayed after school. Write “I’m a bad boy” a hundred times on the black board. Get sent to Mr. Sullivan, the principal. Have to take a note home to be signed by your mother. That was my favorite. It took some time, but, I got really good at signing my mother’s name, until that fateful day when I signed the note “Momma.” That was a dead give away.

It seemed like back then, that there were all kinds of rules messing up how I grew up. Had to wash our hands before supper which slowed down the eating process. Wipe your nose on a handkerchief instead of your sleeve. I mean, after all, my nose didn’t know the difference. Don’t talk with your mouth full. Be seen, but, not heard. Had to finish your homework before you could hear the latest episode of Captain Midnight on the old Philco radio in the living room. But most important was not to bring home lizards that I bought at the carnival that was set up across Hampton Boulevard. That rule came into being when one day, after spending a dollar for the lizard, I put it in one of Uncle Win’s cigar boxes well hidden from Grandmamma. My little brother, Jack, kept lifting the lid to see how the lizard was doing. During one of his inspections, the lizard saw his chance and jumped out of the cigar box and made a bee line for my Grandmmma’s kitchen. When she came through the kitchen door, there was my lizard hanging on the window curtain. A spirited chase took place between my lizard and Grandmamma. I’ll tell you it was nip and tuck. It ended when Grandmamma whacked the lizard silly with a broom. She swept what remained of my dollar lizard into the coal shovel and tossed it out the back door. She then turned to me and did one of the most undemocratic things that a Grandmamma could do. She made a new he rule about having a lizard hanging from her kitchen curtain a - capital offence punishable by a vigorous leg switching. Being really mad and all, she made the rule retroactive back to before I purchased my lizard. Meaning that the weeping willow tree would loose one more branch in her attempt to civilize Jack and me. 

What exactly is a rule anyway? Something that tells you what to do and what not to do. A principle dealing with how you should act. Why have rules? Keeps us civil. Lets us know what the limits are. Makes things less chaotic. When you really look at rules, they let us know how our actions measure up to what they should be. That’s why the stick with all of the little lines on it that you had in school is called “a ruler.” It lets you know how something measures up. In today’s lesson, Paul lays down rules for leaders in the church and we see how those measure up in today’s church.

This study is part of what is called the Pastoral Epistles. These were letters written by Paul to pastors like Timothy and Titus to let them know how to be good pastors. The major difference between these letters and Paul’s letters to Corinth, Ephesus, Colossae and Philippi are that these letters are written to individuals and not churches. What we have to understand about 1 Timothy is that Paul didn’t write this letter to tell Timothy how to set up and organize the church in Ephesus. The church was already established with leaders in place. Well, if the church was already established with leaders and all, why didn’t Paul just write to the leaders in the church and tell them what to do? Evidently, it was the church leaders who were the ones causing trouble by encouraging Gnosticism. Remember Gnosticism was at odds with what Paul had preached when the church was established. What Paul saw was that the church had grown careless in picking their leaders. He saw a need to educate them on what to look for in leaders and, maybe, they won’t make the same mistake again. The leaders of the church in Ephesus had made a mess of everything, so Paul tells Timothy what he needed to do to get the church back on track. He had to reverse the mistakes made before and help them pick the right kind of men this time. 

If you were Timothy, how would you have felt getting this assignment? You’re the new guy in town telling the established church that they have been doing things wrong and you’re there to set them straight. The problem is that you or Timothy don’t have Paul’s credentials or his authority. But, Paul must have had confidence that Timothy could handle the job even if Timothy might have had some reservations. It was going to be hard coming into an established church and convincing them that they had to scrap what they had and start over. So, just what is Timothy supposed to teach the church? And that’s where our study starts. 

1 Timothy 3:1 The saying is sure; whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. 2 Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in eveery way — 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil. 

How does Paul start off this chapter? “The saying is sure.” What does that mean? If Paul were writing this letter today, he might have said, “You can count on what I'm going to say.” Paul is telling Timothy that what he is going to say next is a fact and he could depend on it’s truth. In short, he can take it to the bank. If a man wants to be a bishop, his desire is what? A noble task. First off, we have to understand who he refers to as a “bishop”. After all, there aren’t bishops in the Presbyterian church, right? So, what can we gain from these rules? 

In those days another word for “bishop” as it is used in this letter is “elder”. Even among elders there were leaders. Super elders who organized what had to be done and made sure it was done right. So, what Paul is describing as “bishop” is the super elder who acts as an “overseer”. Somebody who will look at the ministry in the big picture and will coordinate the efforts so that the over-all goals of the ministry can be met. He would be an administrator or superintendent. From this verse it appears that people back then applied for the job. Obviously, a lot of people wanted to be bishop. There was a lot of prestige that came with the job. He would be an important guy. He was more than just a pencil pusher, though. He was on the cutting edge of the ministry. Being a bishop meant that the man had to make personal sacrifices. The affairs of the church took precedence over even his family and his career. For this sacrifice alone, wanting to be a bishop was noble undertaking. So, why is it a noble task? You are going to help people with their relationship with God and it’s a good thing to want to serve God’s people in this way. 

The position of Elder had been around in the Jewish religion since the time of Moses. When the Hebrews were wandering in the wilderness, Moses appointed seventy men who he called elders to help him in controlling and taking care of the people. Other nations also had their elders. In Greece, Sparta was ruled by a group of guys called “the board of elder men.” Rome had it’s Senate. We use the same term for part of the legislative branch of our government. Did you know that the word “Senate” is derived from a Latin word which literally means “old men?” Even today, cities like New York and Chicago have political leaders called Aldermen which is just a another way of saying “elder men.” Why is so much emphasis paid to being an elder man? After all, AARP wasn’t even around then. Our culture seems to put old men as good for nothing more than playing checkers at the nearest senior citizen’s center. Back then, elder men were appreciated and sought because their experience could benefit the community they would serve. 

Now Paul gets to the nitty-gritty about picking elders. He has a check list for the characteristics that any one should have if they wanted the job. It is a long complete list if there ever was one. What did Paul list? 

(1) Above reproach. What does that mean? Blameless. Free from criticism. He should be such a fine fellow that people don’t find any reasons to criticize him. Even if something surfaces that might paint him in a bad light, people will say, “I know this guy and I know that he would never do anything like that.” 

(2) Married only once. Does this mean a widower, divorced man or single man need not apply? What is literally meant here is a husband who was faithful and loyal to his wife. Seems easy to find men who would meet this qualification, so why list something as simple as that? Well, in those days it wasn’t uncommon to have several wives or several husbands for that matter. To make it even more of a problem, concubines were still in the picture. Even Abraham had a concubine. Several centuries later, it became the custom that a bishop should marry only once in his lifetime. If his wife died, he didn’t go get a new wife. 

(3) Temperate. Does that mean no more bowls heaped up with butter pecan ice cream? This refers to somebody who is even handed in his dealings with people. Somebody who is fair and just. Let's look at this in terms of temperature. In your home, what temperature would be considered as temperate? A temperature that is neither too hot nor too cold. So a leader must control his feeling when dealing with the church’s issues and make his judgments free of his own biases. Wouldn’t it be a miracle if our leaders, both political and religious, were a little more temperate? 

(4) Sensible. What does this word mean? Having good common sense. That means to have a feeling about things that is commonly believed by most people. This would be a man who made decisions that everybody accepted as true without checking what the New York Times might say. 

(5) Respectable. Can you decide on your own to be respectable? Sure. But, for others, respectability isn’t a badge you can pin on yourself. Or a medal you can buy on Craig’s List. It is something that others have to bestow on you. Respectability is like the old TV add about investing, “It is something you earn the old fashioned way.” 

(6) Hospitable. How does a leader be hospitable? Being open to all persons. Being pleasant and respectful even if you disagree. It’s like sitting at Harbor Park while the guy behind you is yelling for Pawtucket and resisting the temptation of clonking him on the head with your bucket of popcorn. Today, this is a very difficult part of being a church leader because the congregation is made up so many diverse people. Paul considered this such an important attribute that he instructed the church in Rome to make hospitality number one on their “to do” list. 

(7) Apt teacher. What is an apt teacher? A leader should be able to teach scripture and make the teaching a worthwhile experience. One of a leader’s chief duties is training newcomers in the faith, so the leader must be able to clearly instruct these young Christians. In our church, we have teaching elders who preach, but, all elders are encouraged to be teachers. 

(8) Not a drunkard. For those who breathed a sigh of relief when we discussed “temperate”, here is where the grape sours. This does not say that you should never drink alcohol. You have to remember that in those days wine was sometimes safer to drink than water. But, what they drank was two parts Golden Sherry and three parts water. Yuk! So, if a wine had an alcohol content of 5%, then after mixing in the water the alcohol content was down to 2%. That’s less alcohol than some cough medicines. But the meaning here goes further than drinking a beer after cutting the grass. It’s about over doing it. It means that a leader must exercise self control in his life. He cannot be effective in disciplining sin in the church if he has no discipline in his own life. 

(9) Not violent, but, gentle. We all know what it means to be physically violent. We saw physical violence on display in the cities last year and this week in the capital. How can we display violence other than beating up another person? By our anger. Our rage. Ridiculing and insulting people. Making fun of a handicap. How many people do you know who were bullied into becoming Christians? Or, they became Christians because somebody threatened to beat them up if they didn’t? Its like the old Gary Cooper movie “Gentle Persuasion,” hearts are moved in the right direction more by gentleness than by violence. Leaders are to imitate the gentleness of Jesus who didn’t strike back in anger when he was beaten. He didn’t curse the people who spat on him. Jesus didn’t wish bad things for the crowd who screamed “Give us Barrabas.” It was the gentleness of Jesus who said “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” 

(10) Not quarrelsome. We are talking quarrel here not debate. You know, some people just love a good argument. They seem to thrive on tempers raging. A leader should calm down the rhetoric and promote a more peaceful atmosphere. “Blessed are the peace makers for they shall inherit the earth.” I’m afraid that today “quarrelsome” has been replaced by nasty threats and intimidation. We hear rhetoric so violent and hateful now-a-days, that it scares us. And that comes from just political candidates. 

(11) Not a lover of money. Do you know that there are some people who go to church because it’s good for business to be seen in church? They might seek an office in the church to make better business contacts. Then there are politicians who when an election is near, discover that a church has been right around the corner from their home for the last four years. They dust off their King’s James Bible and parade the whole family to church. You know how you can spot politicians who aren’t used to coming to church? They sit in the first pew. Somebody asked John D. Rockefeller, “How much money is enough?” He answered, “Just a little bit more.” The idea here is that a leader shouldn’t use the church to increase his bottom line. It appears that some of the leaders in Ephesus were doing just that. 

(12) Must manage his household well. What’s that got to do with the church? Isn’t there a separation between church and home in the constitution? In those days a household not only included the husband, wife and children, but, maybe parents, slaves, servants and family members down on their luck. So a household could number as many as twenty or thirty people. That’s a lot of people to manage. I can’t even manage the weeds in my garden. If a leader is to manage a whole congregation, then his credentials should include an ability to manage his own home. If he can’t manage his home, how can he ever be expected to manage a congregation? 

(13) Not a recent convert. Is this fair? Why not let a newcomer become a leader? After all, newcomers bring with them an enthusiasm that might have waned in old timers. The grim reality for the people in those days is that when the persecutions started, the first people arrested were the leaders. Unless the leader’s faith has been tested and he is sure of where he stands with the Lord, he may renounce the church when the screws are turned. And that’s bad for everybody. Another thing that could happen is that with the elevation to leadership, the new comer may think that it was because of his own ability and strengths and not because God had picked him for the job. He might view himself as someone to be served rather than someone to serve. 

(14) Thought of well by outsiders. Why is it important to be thought of well by people outside of the church? The idea here is that if he has dealt fairly with all people, even people who don’t go to church, in a way that has earned him their respect, then he won’t feel the need to waste his time catering to the secular society because they already respect him. He can devote himself to the needs of the church and not look for ways to compromise the mission of the church just to appeal to none believers. I wish I didn’t have to admit that there are leaders in our national church who spend far too much time trying to appease groups who want to see Christianity diminished or become so secularized that there is no place for Christ in our church. 

After looking at this list of attributes that church leaders should have, try applying these attributes to the people who want to be our political leaders. How many of them meet all of the requirements? How many meet just some of the requirements? 

1 Timothy 3:8 Deacons like wise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; 9 they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them first be tested; then if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. 11 Women like wise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things 12 Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well; 13 for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. 

In Acts the word deacon describes duties that are to be carried out by chosen people. Generally, these duties dealt with passing out food. Over time, this function evolved into the office of Deacon. Was this a man’s only club or were women included? It appears clear that women served as deacons in the early church and probably in the church at Ephesus, although some scholars feel that this refers to the wives of male deacons. It would seem logical that women deacons could offer help to women that men could not. Many of the characteristics listed for elders are repeated for deacons. One interesting addition is a restriction on not being a slanderer. What kind of slanderer is Paul talking about? The sin enjoyed by too many people and Christians. What is it? Common old every day gossip. Oh oh, are we going to get an anti-woman rant? It isn’t that Paul is singling out women for gossiping, but, in Paul’s day men were out in the public working and had the opportunity to meet lots of people and experience new things. The women were home with the kids all day and it was the same thing day in and day out. So when friends got together to chat, they were hungry for what else was happening in the world. The same thing could happen to men when they stop off at the neighborhood bar to meet with their buddies before going home. Whether it is men or women, when the conversations seems to get boring, there is the temptation to jazz it up with an amusing little story about the failings of somebody everybody knew. Before long, the stories stop becoming amusing and become hurtful and even slanderous. Remember during the war the slogan "Loose lips sink ships?" Paul is saying that loose talk may backfire and embarrass the church. What have we learned today? We have learned that everybody has rules. From driving a car or managing our budget, we can't get away from rules. From Paul's rules, it is a wonder that anyone can qualify to serve as a leader in the church. But whether we are a leader, a follower or chasing a lizard in the kitchen, rules like these give us the guidance in our place in this world and lets us know that character counts. Just as Timothy passed these rules along to the church at Ephesus, we are responsible for passing on these rules, uncorrupted, to the newcomers in Third Presbyterian Church right here on Carlton Avenue. 

Prayer: Father, you have called us to be your representatives in this world. Equip us with the rules that will bring goodness and peace to our church, our city, our nation and our world and remind us to keep measuring up to what is right. Amen.